Fresh look at Slot pressure as Liverpool head to Sunderland: BBC Sport
Arne Slot heads into Sunderland away with pressure building on him at Liverpool, and a BBC Sport deep dive has laid out why the noise has grown louder even though the 47-year-old Dutch head coach still has a huge amount of credit in the bank.
The immediate context is brutal because we were leading Manchester City late at Anfield before losing 2-1, and the table does not flatter us either, with Liverpool sat sixth on 39 points after 25 games.
At the same time, results elsewhere have kept the Champions League race alive, so this trip to the Stadium of Light feels like a moment to steady the season rather than a time to panic.
Slot pressure at Liverpool
BBC Sport’s Aadam Patel points out that Slot has openly acknowledged how hard this campaign has been, with the Liverpool boss framing it as the most challenging season of his career.
“Arne Slot afforded himself a little smile when he admitted that this was the toughest season in his career “by a mile” on Tuesday.”
The piece also highlights the ruthless reality of the league form since our flying start, which is the part many keep returning to when talking about whether Slot is under threat.
“Since winning their first five league matches at the start of the season, Liverpool have taken just 24 points from their next 20 games.”
Could Slot leave Liverpool or be pushed out?
Slot has effectively said his future is not something he controls and that Liverpool have historically looked at more than pure results when judging coaches.
“Asked what impact such a scenario would have on his own position, Slot replied: ‘That is again a difficult question for me to answer because I don’t decide on my future.’”
That matters, because it is not Slot offering hints about walking away, it is Slot acknowledging that Champions League qualification is a non-negotiable target while also leaning on Liverpool’s track record of judgement and patience.
Chris Sutton has also pushed back on the idea that a difficult title defence should automatically trigger a managerial crisis, saying: “The Liverpool fans seem to have had enough of Arne Slot, which again makes no sense to me.”
Alisson Becker has struck a similar tone in terms of moving forward quickly rather than spiralling, saying: “We don’t have time to be disappointed, we have to work hard and try to win the next game.”
Slot is clearly under scrutiny because Liverpool’s standards are higher than sixth, but based on what has been said publicly, this looks more like a performance-and-results problem that must be fixed quickly, rather than a situation where Slot is actively preparing to leave Anfield.
You can watch Arne Slot’s pre-Sunderland press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
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